Bucket List

So I fully realize this is my third post in a row about something or other that happened at school. Don't worry, I won't make a daily habit of it; I wasn't planning on writing a teaching blog or anything. But kids do say the darndest things. Here's a conversation I had today:

Kid: "My binder is broken."
Me: "Ok, I'll put it on my to-do list to find you another one."
Kid: "You mean your bucket list?"
Me: "What do you think a bucket list is?"
Kid: "Well, people like to keep lists in buckets."
Me: "No, a bucket list is stuff you want to do in your life. A to-do list is something you have to do. No offense, but getting you a new binder isn't really on my bucket list."
Kid: "Oh..."
Me: "It would be cool if people kept lists in buckets though!"
Kid: "Yeah."

I almost regretted telling him the actual definition of a bucket list.

Do you believe in MAGIC?

First off, I'd just like to say that this is my 31st post. That means I have been doing this for about one month! Success! I'm pretty impressed that I've been keeping up for this long. It helps to have all of you readers out there, counting on me, looking for my posts each day :). Someone IS out there reading this...right?? At the very least, I have the illusion. That's a pretty great segue to my moment of the day.

The 3rd graders went to see a play of Cinderella today. I didn't attend the trip, but I heard it was a big hit. When they returned, I decided to read them the story of Cinderella to see how it compared. They had a lot of fun explaining the ins and outs of both versions.

One student said, "The play didn't have magic in it, but the story you read us did." I was confused. I asked if in the play, Cinderella's tattered dress became a ballgown, and if the pumpkin became a coach, etc. The students said yes, they did.

"But we know how they did it," the student insisted. "Because they told us after the show that there was really a hole cut in the stage, and that's how they did it." We then had a really interesting conversation about if there was or wasn't magic in the play.

Can something be magical even if you understand it?

Eat Healthy! Michelle Obama!

We have a fresh fruit and vegetable program at my school. Three days a week, the kids get to sample fresh fruit or veggies during homeroom. It's been pretty interesting. I have a 6th grade advisory, and some of them are definitely more game than others to try the more obscure vegetables like kohlrabi and parsnips. Some of them didn't actually know what a strawberry was. It's very revealing. Well, today, we had a standard mixed veggie pack, and one student offered to hand them out. Usually, this student is rather sour, not particularly helpful, and pretty down. However, today, she was extremely cheery. As she handed out each veggie pack, she kept saying, "Eat healthy! Michelle Obama!" I thought it was so inspiring that the First Lady has even reached my 6th graders. Even if it's a fad, what an amazing fad that would be! Whatever gets them to eat healthy; the more power to them!

The Dog Days are Over

Today was just one of those days. I awoke really hoping for a snow day - or at least a delay. The day just went downhill from there. Everyone and everything irritated me. Then, I had my moment in ballet tone tonight. I was grumping to myself that I couldn't wait for the class to be over - I was really struggling, my friend was killing it beside me, and I was realizing way too late that I should have waited until after class to eat that last piece of my mother's amazing cheesecake - when the teacher told us to get into a downward dog pose to stretch. No big deal, right? Well, it has been a pretty big deal for me to balance on my hands and feet as of late. I have become rather accident-prone in the past couple of years. First, I slipped and fell on the ice, breaking my right wrist. Last spring, cleaning up my classroom, I slipped and fell off of a student desk, and broke my left wrist. Seriously, who does that? Then, trekking in Nepal, I fell and sprained the already broken left wrist. So I've been avoiding all exercises, gym classes, or yoga classes that involved any kind of wrist weight-bearing activities. However, tonight, when the teacher told us to get into the downward dog, I just went for it. At that exact moment, Florence and the Machine's "Dog Days Are Over" started playing, and I realized that I was doing the exercise pretty much pain-free.

The moon followed me home

As a kid, I remember loving when we would drive at night on road trips. Whether it was one of my parents or my grandmother, I would feel so safe and secure as I curled up in the backseat, drifting in and out of sleep. As I blinked my eyes open and shut, I would often catch sight of the moon. I was constantly amazed that the moon always seemed to be following me home. Of course, as I got older, I realized that the moon wasn't actually moving at all, though think I always preferred the myth to the reality. Today, on my long bus ride home, I was comforted, because although I don't always feel so safe and secure on the Megabus, at least the full moon was following me home.

By the way, readers, as a follow-up to my "Green Thumb?" post, check out my amaryllis now!

Walkin' After Midnight

Let me walk you through my favorite moment of my day. Picture this: at home at the parents' house, snow outside, a crackling fire inside, dad and bro in the kitchen preparing delicious food, cats and dog slinking around trying to avoid each other, mom and grandma attempting to put together a complex jigsaw puzzle, Patsy Cline's "Walkin' After Midnight" playing on Pandora, dad dancing around the kitchen singing along, mom and grandma laughing at dad singing along. It was pure perfection.

Julie, Do Ya Love Me?

I had the bright idea to catch the 3:20 bus to DC, in hopes of beating some rush hour traffic. Naturally, I timed it just perfectly with the freshly falling snow, and let’s just say what should have been a two and a half hour trip turned into more than a four hour trip. So, standing out in the snow, I tried to hail a number of cabs before one actually picked me up. I was distracted – trying to make sure I had everything, still recovering from the school day, trying to check my email on my phone, etc. Normally, I always talk to cab drivers ( I’ve had a number of interesting conversations), but today I had my blinders on. Well, my blinders were no match for Dominic, a cab driver who has been driving Philly cabs for 30 years. He immediately started chatting, and lifted my spirits up with his positivity and charm. When he asked for my name, and I said it was Julie, he immediately said, “Oh, like the song!” I told him that I had never heard of any songs that mentioned my name. “No, Julie, do ya love me – Google it on that fancy phone of yours!” Sure enough, I Googled it, and it turns out that in 1970, Bobby Sherman sang this awesome cheesy song called, “Julie, do ya love me.” Dominic then assured me that nothing but good things were going to come my way because now I had my song, and he was full of good vibes for my life. Yes, he actually said “good vibes”. Of course, upon exiting the cab, the snow was really coming down, and I had to wait for 25 minutes in the cold for the bus to show up. But it was okay. I was listening to my song, and thinking of good vibes. That kept me plenty warm.

Green Thumb?

I'm really not the best gardener. I've managed to kill almost every plant I've ever owned. I do have a very satisfying memory of planting a lilac bush in the backyard when I was about ten, but I'm sure I was heavily supervised. Point being - usually my apartment is where flowers come to die. About a month ago, the mother of one of my friends gave me an amaryllis bulb that is guaranteed to bloom. After a couple weeks, I was sure that I was the one exception. Nothing was happening! That stupid bulb was just laying there in the dirt. Then, little by little, I started to see some progress.  Later, I saw a little bud. Today, racking my brains, trying to think of a stand out moment to blog about, I happened to glance over at the window, and I saw not one, but two new buds.

Wowza. What a record-setting day :) How long do you think it'll take before I manage to kill this one?

The candle that wouldn't quit

So, today is my birthday, which is a rather big event - I suppose. Every year, I find that I'm stuck between feeling like it's a huge deal versus just another year passing by. When you're an adult, most birthdays you find yourself working. That takes a great deal of magic out of that one special day. Yet the magic of my birthday this year was created by my friends. They took me to a wonderful, Charles Dickens-themed birthday dinner with five courses at a tiny restaurant that opened just for us. I could go into vast detail describing every single course....

The hot gin with sugar and water that started us off (an old fashioned cocktail):

The porridge that Oliver Twist mentions (no, we did not want some more):

Raw oysters - my first!

Welsh Rarebit (turns out it has nothing to do with rabbit):

A hearty winter beer served with the main course:

Roasted goose (originally only for the richer classes during Dickens' time):

...but the point of this blog is to focus on one tiny detail from my day.

The moment I will remember the most about today was when I was trying to blow out my delicious birthday cake:

One of my friends planted a trick candle on the cake. For at least a full minute, I kept blowing out the candle, only to discover, of course, that it would automatically light right up again. For a snapshot of time, just then, I became a little kid again. I found such delight and joy in blowing out the candle, only to see it re-light again and again. I couldn't stop laughing. Recently I've been noticing that the times when I have been completely lost in laughter have been few and far in between.

Today, even though I turned 31, for just a minute - I was able to be a little kid again.

"Am I a good kid, or a bad kid?"

I've resolved to try not to post too much here about teaching. The truth is - I could have a blog just full of teacher anecdotes, but I'm trying to find some life-work balance here. However, while reflecting upon the day, the moment that stands out to me the most occurred during one of my 3rd grade classes. The students had to take a progress monitoring reading comprehension test. I won't get into this, but proctoring progress monitoring reading comprehension tests is certainly NOT why I became a teacher. But that is a discussion for another time. Anyways, one student rushed through his test and finished in about 5 minutes. That's pretty typical of this student. We looked at his score, and it was 8/20 - 40%. I told him that I didn't think that test matched his reading skills, and asked him if he wanted to take another one. Usually, when this kid rushes through things, and I patiently try to explain to him why it's best to slow down and think through the answers, he doesn't give me the time of day. He just wants to be done. Today, though, he stopped moving around in his seat, looked me straight in the eyes, and asked, "Am I a good kid, or a bad kid?" 

I couldn't believe it. This kid was equating rushing through a test to being a "bad kid". Of course I reassured him that he was a GREAT kid, regardless of how he did on the test. But the question completely floored me. I'm used to teaching 8th graders, who consistently remind their teachers just how little they care about what the teacher thinks of them. When kids are in 3rd grade, they are a bit more transparent. All they want to do is to please their teacher, and they desperately want to be labeled a "good kid". As teachers, we are supposed to keep labels off of our students. Wouldn't it be nice if kids didn't even know what it meant to be a "good kid" or a "bad kid"? 

First Snow

Several important events occurred today; the Presidential Inauguration, Martin Luther King, Jr. Day, seeing my former students from the past four years on alumni day (the oldest ones are now seniors in high school!). However, since this blog is about those little details, I was racking my brain, trying to think of some little detail that would stand out on this day of very important events. Then, as I stepped out of my door this evening, that little detail literally hit me right in the face. It was my first snow of the year. Not hail, or sleet, or a wintry mix, but actual snow. Light, feathery, soft, falling snow. In the light of the lantern in my humble little Lantern Square, it was magical.

Yo dropped your smile

So there's a vacant storefront in-between a sushi place and a Starbucks on my block. It's prime real estate, yet it's still empty. The windows are completely blank, except for stickers that say the following two phrases:

"You dropped your smile."
...and then, below...
"Smile, you will look younger!"

I'm not sure who put them there, but I find it hilarious. Every time I walk by, I end up - well, smiling. However, the "u" in "you" has rubbed off, so it looks like, "Yo dropped your smile!" All you'd need is that one extra comma to completely change the tone of the phrase. "Yo, dropped your smile!" Yes, I'm a nerdy English teacher :). All the self-help books, the new mantras that will change your life, the New Year's Resolutions - and maybe all it really takes to be happy is to be told, "Yo dude, you dropped your smile!" Maybe that'll make you pick it back up again.

Nuts To You

Whilst buying cashews today at one of the several Nuts To You stores in Philadelphia, I had an experience that managed to be funny and gross at the same time. Everyone is really concerned with getting the flu this winter; right? I know at school we teach kids to sneeze into their elbows for safety's sake. So you can imagine my surprise when while paying at the cash register, the man making my change managed to sneeze - not into his elbow, not into his hand, but right across the counter. It may have been my imagination, but I could swear that the sneeze even reached me. You'd expect him to be mortified and immediately apologize. Well, at least I expected that. Yet all he said was, "Wow, that was a wet one!" Folks, you just can't make this stuff up. When I got home I showered immediately.

Skeletor

As any teacher will tell you, Friday nights are tough. If you're a teacher, you've probably been up since 6 AM, and the last thing you want to do is to try and make it out past midnight. However, there are some exceptions. Like when you are invited to karaoke where a man wearing a skeleton costume emcees and hits a gong when HE feels the performance should be over. Now that's a reason to stay up until 1 AM. Clearly this is yet another pocket of Philly culture I have been missing - this occurs every month, and there were plenty of regular performers. The moment that will stand out from today for me was when Skeletor decided he wanted to sing "All My Life" by K-C and Jojo. I haven't heard this song since my high school days when I would listen to 97.1 Wash FM, and wait in vain for someone to dedicate a love song to me. Even after all these years, I found myself belting out all the words with my friends, dancing like a maniac, and forgetting I had been up since 6 AM. 

Customer Service

You know, you try to be the best person that you can be...and then you encounter on-the-phone Customer Service. On the one hand, I really admire anyone who takes a Customer Service job. It must be pretty terrible to deal with people calling you and complaining on a daily basis. On the other hand...why do they always seem to have such pat responses? "I'm sorry this is such an inconvenience for you", "I understand where you are coming from", etc, etc. Why, when you finally feel like you've reached a real person, and they understand your dilemma, do they transfer to someone else where you have to start all over again? Why on earth do they make you repeat your birthdate twenty times? Why, for the love of God, is it so frequently so hard to understand what the Customer Service Representative is even saying? Sometimes, and I hate to admit this, but I become a completely different person with Customer Service. I'm surly and rude. I snap things like, "Well, I don't have much of a choice, do I?" I whine, "That's not what the last person told me!" I beg, "Will you please just not hang up on me?" I plead, "Please, just listen to me!" Today, I may or may not have done all of the above.

Did anyone else deal with a frustrating Customer Service experience today? Any amazing Customer Service stories in general?

Looking Up

Recently someone wise told me that simply the act of looking up can boost a mood. Especially in this dreary part of winter, in rainy/foggy/wintry mixy Philadelphia (why did I leave California again??), on some days in particular it's challenging to rise out of the winter doldrums. However, today as I was shivering my way down my block, I stopped and looked up. There, I saw a window that I had never seen before, with curtains that were pretty much every color of the rainbow. I do reside in an area of Philadelphia that's commonly called "The Gayborhood", so I guess that wouldn't normally be such a surprise. Yet today, in the grey, dark, cold night, something about those bright colors instantly warmed me up inside. All I needed to do was to look up.

Has anyone else looked up recently?

101 Dalmatians

I think the part I love best about the movie "101 Dalmatians" is that scene where you see all the dogs and their dog owners looking the same. I always crack up when I watch that part. And while I don't believe it's necessarily true, I did see something today that made me think of that movie. There's an elderly woman in my neighborhood who has three poodles. I always smile when I see her walking them. That's an everyday event. However, today, they were all dressed in plaid. She was wearing blue plaid, and her dogs were wearing green plaid, red plaid, and orange plaid. That, combined with her curly hair and the curly hair of the poodles made them all kind of look alike. Just a little quirky detail that made today stand for me. 

Conversations that are best kept private

I'm making up for my lack of blogging yesterday (yes, I know you were all devastated) with two blogs today. So I'm just going to roll with this technology subject for a bit more. Yesterday as I walked down the street, I overheard several "private" conversations. I realize I'm going to date myself, again, but there was a time I remember quite well when the only private conversations I had were on my own phone in my own room. I remember campaigning long and hard for my own phone. It wasn't even cordless. It was one of those see-through phones with colored wires. I thought it was the coolest phone around. With that phone, on the phone line that I shared with my younger brother, I would chat for hours with my friends (whom I had just seen at school that day). Now that I no longer have a landline, I can have these "private" conversations anywhere that I want. I can chat in the supermarket, on the street, or even on the bus or the train (if I can withstand the dirty looks). When chatting on my cell phone, I have this false sense of security that no one can actually hear my conversation. I am definitely guilty of having conversations that I shouldn't in the most public of places. Yet, I can say with assurance that I've never had a screaming match with someone on the phone in the street (nor in the privacy of my own home, for that matter). 

So, I heard several snippets of conversations that I shouldn't have yesterday. 

Here's the that took the cake...

...a woman screaming a stream of curses into the phone, and ending with, "YOU'RE THE ONE WHO'S THE PATHOLOGICAL LIAR! NOT ME!" 

Yikes. 

Technology really can bring us closer together

I never thought I would say this - but I'm kind of addicted to technology. I used to be that person who wouldn't join Facebook, who wouldn't get an Iphone on principle...but...the truth is that now I feel a bit panicked when I leave the house without my phone. I check my email constantly. So often it feels like such a burden. But today, a dear friend of mine got engaged. Pretty huge news! Since this blog is meant to be about the little things in life that make one day stand out from the next, and not necessarily the amazing life-changing events, I'll focus on something a bit smaller. After learning of her engagement, my other friend called both of us, and we all got to chat together, in a matter of minutes. Way to go, technology. Now, these are two friends that I would spend hours chatting with in person in college. Before we all had cell phones. Certainly, before Facebook. Am I betraying my age too much here? We'd lounge around the dorm room, and talk about every topic under the sun. Since we now all live in separate places, that only happens every once in a blue moon. For a few, brief minutes, even though one of us was in Philly, one in Vegas, and one in LA, I could close my eyes and picture a dorm room in sunny Southern California, with all of us having those five hour conversations that I wish I still could have all the time. Even though I totally get the argument that with so much technology, we lose human contact (since everyone is constantly on their smart phone or Facebook), tonight - technology did really bring us closer together. 

Romance is Alive and Well in the City of Brotherly Love

I personally witnessed two acts of romance today in Philly - and hopefully neither were brought on by the impending Valentine's day frenzy.

One: A man with shopping bags and flowers walks down the street towards a woman. He offers her the flowers; they kiss. They chat for a couple minutes, and then head their separate ways, each looking back at the other person a couple times.

Two: A woman and a man walk hand in hand down the street; she is blindfolded. Hopefully this is a romantic scavenger hunt, and not a case in which I should have called the police.

Chocolate cake for two...or eight

I would absolutely say that one detail that makes this day stand out from the rest is the massive chocolate cake that I ordered for desert tonight.

The waiter who was wearing sunglasses inside highly recommended it.

I don't have a "before" picture of this cake, but it was at least four layers high.

We had to cut it in half, and turn it on it's side so that it would fit into the take-out box. This is after we ate about a fourth. I'm definitely a chocoholic, but I met my match with this one.

Maybe every Friday should end with a ginormous piece of chocolate cake.

You deserve a beautiful day

What is something that makes today stand out from other days? Well, I just got the world's best care package from my grandma in Louisiana. In addition to packages of seasonings to make etouffee and jambalaya, I received this:

It starts like this:

Press a button, and it will gradually "grow":

To this:

With a paper flower like this, you really have no choice but to be happy, right? I must have closed and opened this flower 20 times at work today. My office mate probably thinks I'm insane. It definitely made an otherwise ordinary day pretty extraordinary. Thanks, grandma!!

"New Year's Resolution? No, I wouldn't say that."

A conversation I overheard between two women whilst waiting for Zumba class to begin tonight:

"Hey, haven't seen you for a while!"
"Yeah...things got pretty busy in December..."
"So, you're back? New Year's Resolution?"
"New Year's Resolution? No, I wouldn't say that."
"Oh? You wouldn't say that?"
"Once you say that, you're destined to fail!"

Interesting. There are several definitions of "resolution" on Merriam-Webster, but one that stood out to me today was: "resolution: the act of determining". The word determining seems to final to me, and I guess resolve does as well. Maybe that's why New Year's Resolutions don't tend to work; they're too rigid. They don't allow for human error. But then we'd all go making resolutions half-way, like, "I'll go to the gym...when I'm feeling good." "I'll make sure to eat healthy...except when I'm going out with my friends." "I'll be sure to save some money...except when I really need something."

I don't have an amazing solution to New Year's Resolutions. Every January 1st, I make them, and I don't know if I actually remember them come December 31st.

What do you guys think about New Year's Resolutions? If you respond in the comments below, then I'll know I at least have one reader :).

On a somewhat related note, Zumba was awesome tonight. I highly recommend gym dance classes. Where else do you get to work up a serious sweat, pretend to be a good dancer, and get your groove on with a bunch of ladies (and sometimes a token man)?

“Can you see the sunset real good on the West side? You can see it on the East side too.” S.E. Hinton, The Outsiders

I'm the kind of person who is consistently running late. I will speed walk frantically, checking my watch every two seconds to see if I've miraculously made it two or three blocks in a minute. I also tend to lie to myself - and others. "Sure, I'm ten minutes away." "I'm just running out the door." I'm not intentionally lying. I like to think that I'm envisioning a world in which I really AM ten minutes away, or a world in which I really AM just running out the door. You get the picture. Always rushing around, this one. So today, I was frantically booking it to an appointment. Suddenly, I looked up and saw an amazing sunset. I made myself stop - completely, and for a good five minutes I enjoyed the sunset. Sunsets make me think of two things: camp, and The Outsiders by S.E. Hinton. To me, some of the most beautiful sunsets only exist in Maine. In The Outsiders, the sunset is used kind of as an equalizer. Even though these kids have such rough lives, and are on opposite sides of a feud, they are all linked through the sunset. So, today, I watched a sunset, and wondered if everyone else could see it too. Oh yeah, and I didn't make it to my appointment on time.

Did anyone watch the sunset today?

One...One...One

I was in the Rittenhouse library today, tutoring in the Children's Section. There was this little toddler (okay, I'm bad with kids' ages - but I think she was between one and two?), with a woman who was probably her mother. They were walking down the steps and counting them one by one. Well, not exactly. The toddler just kept counting, "One, one, one", while the woman counted the actual number of steps. When they got to the bottom, the toddler would start screaming, which definitely got the attention of all the kids/teens working in the Children's Section. So, the woman would take her up to the top, and they would start walking down and counting all over again. For about ten minutes, all I kept hearing was, "One, one, one", and then screaming. It was the cutest thing I've seen for a while, yet fairly annoying at the same time. Needless to say, my tutee and I were both pretty distracted. I guess the "Quiet in the Library" rule only applies to children over the age of five. Now I can't get that little voice out of my head counting, "One, one, one..." over and over.

Is Chivalry Dead, Or Do Women Just Need To Purchase More Sensible Sneakers?

As I walked past the Union League on Broad Street today, a very posh, exclusive establishment with a long, winding staircase, I noticed something that caught my eye. A woman was attempting to climb the very steep stairs in extremely high heels. To make matters more difficult, she combatted the heels with a long, tight dress. Needless to say, she couldn't move that quickly. The man who was with her started off patiently climbing the stairs slowly with her. However, after two or three, he sighed in exasperation and booked it to the top, leaving this poor woman wobbling on the third stair from the bottom. I wanted so badly to insert myself into the situation and offer this woman my arm - or perhaps my sneakers. Is chivalry dead? Didn't the man understand from the moment he saw those heels tonight that he was going to be responsible for helping her keep her balance? On the other hand, I've tried, and I still don't understand high heels. Oh, I own a couple. I've spent years trying to find a comfortable heel. For me - comfortable heels are the ultimate oxymoron. Friends of mine swear that heels are even more comfortable than flats. Personally, I'd like to be able to walk up a long, winding staircase all on my own any given day of the week.

Suffering For Art

Today was cold. Like, in the 30's cold, with some wind chill thrown in. During this time of winter, I am usually seen in a long puffy sleeping bag-type jacket, gloves, and a hat. I'm also often seen walking very briskly. So, you can imagine my surprise when, while waiting for the bus, I saw a young man kneeling in the median on Broad Street with his camera, trying to aim high to get that perfect shot of City Hall. I must have been waiting for the bus for at least 15 minutes. During that entire time, this man, gloveless, hatless, and wearing a very thin jacket, was kneeling practically in the middle of the street, taking picture after picture of City Hall. I've seen many a photographer do this on a warm and sunny day. It's a pretty standard photo opp. Around 7 pm on a chilly Saturday night, this man took the time to freeze his fingers off just for the sake of his art. 

Do You Hear The People Sing?

I joined the throngs of people flocking to the movies to see Les Miserables (a little late to the party), but that's not particularly noteworthy in my quest to find something unique about today. As a true musical nerd, that was bound to happen at some point or another. This blog is about the little things. The little things like seeing a curmudgeon of a man on my walk to the movie theater wearing one of those animal hats with ears on his head. Yet the true standout moment of my day actually came on my way out of the movie. I was with two friends; one who teaches high school. We ran into a group of her students coming from seeing Les Mis as well. They were so excited to see their teacher, and immediately started gushing about the movie. As we started walking out of the theater, they started singing, "Do you hear the people sing?" at the top of their lungs. It reminded me of my days when I was in the high school musical, and would also sing in public on a whim with my friends. I love the fact that these teenagers didn't mind making fools out of themselves and weren't afraid to be just a bit too passionate.

Donuts

Philadelphia is the self-proclaimed, "City of Brotherly Love". Yet many say that one will only find rude citizens roaming Philly's historic streets. Philly tends to get a pretty bad rap. One of my dear friends is always very quick to point out the fact that my current city is continuously making the top of the list of the "Fattest Cities in America" and the "Ugliest Cities in America". Supposedly it also makes the top ten "Most Polluted Cities in America". Yet I digress. I witnessed an amazing human moment today that made me have faith in this City of Brotherly Love...and that also kind of confirms the Fattest Cities in America charge. I was walking out of my chiropractor's office, and a man walked in holding two donuts. He said he had just been to Federal Donuts (a Philly staple serving coffee, donuts, and fried chicken) and that they had given him an extra free donut with his original purchase. In a very jovial manner, he offered one to the receptionist. Now having personally tried Federal Donuts, I know that you've got to be pretty magnanimous to give one up - even if you did get it for free. It's not every day that you witness two almost-strangers sharing the donut wealth. How's that for some brotherly love? So much for those dieting New Year's Resolutions.

Are You Sure?

Today was made distinct by a visit paid by my lovely friend who has relocated to Ghana. I've been in Philadelphia for 6 years, and for the most part, I really like it here. Yet it's always so inspiring to talk to people who are living in different places, and to daydream about the possibility of picking up my life in a flash and moving away. She talked about her job, the culture shock, the beaches and warm weather, and about a phrase which seems to be very common; "Are you sure?" After you say anything, she said, a Ghanaian will always follow up with, "Are you sure?" We laughed about it, because it seems like such an obvious question. However, upon thinking about it for a bit longer, I realized that so often, I have trouble being sure of anything. I constantly ask myself the questions; "Did I make the right choice?" "Is this really what I want to do?" Am I really ever SURE? Definitely food for thought. 

Redbirds in Arkansas

As I do most every January 1st, I woke up this morning feeling like everything should be different. There's such a build up to this day. Magically, overnight, I always feel I should have become this new and improved person who, in a flash, has already fulfilled all of her New Year's Resolutions. In actuality, I woke up to the sound of someone throwing up outside on the street, and to a dead mouse that the cat I am taking care of brought up to my bedroom.  Needless to say, I felt a bit let down. However, I did manage to get myself out of the house, and avoided the craziness that ensues in Philly on January 1st due to the Mummers Parade by walking along the John Heinz National Wildlife Refuge for a couple hours with a friend and her dog. The landscape this time of year tends to blend together monochromatically, and we weren't spotting any wildlife so to speak of. Then, we saw it: one redbird, and then two redbirds, side by side. My grandma has trained me to look out for redbirds (cardinals). She always says that whenever she wants to feel better, she thinks about redbirds in Arkansas (her favorite bird in her favorite state). Seeing not only one but TWO redbirds is definitely something that makes this day different from other days, and it does make me feel better going into the New Year.